The present invention relates to lithography. In one aspect, the invention relates to creating a lenticular image that can impart the illusion of multidimensionality and/or motion, and more particularly, to creating a corresponding lenticular image created from an output having an output resolution that has been varied to obtain a varied output resolution.
Lenticular images are created by joining an interlaced image to a lenticular lens, described in greater detail below. Lenticular lenses are known and commercially available. These lenses typically consist of an array of identical cylindrically-curved surfaces that are extruded, embossed or otherwise formed on the front surface of a plastic sheet, although other geometric patterns are possible and known, e.g., pyramidal, and these too can be used in the present invention). Each individual lens or lenticule is typically a section of a long cylinder that typically extends the full length of the underlying image to which it is laminated (either directly or indirectly as described below). Alternatively, lenticules can take other shapes, for example, a parabolic or truncated cylindrical shape. The back surface of the lenticular lens, i.e., the surface to which an underlying image is joined, is typically flat or substantially flat. One example of a lenticular lens that can be used in the present invention is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/816,435, incorporated by reference herein.
Due to variables in production such as, for example, the material used (lenticular lenses are typically made from plastic materials), high temperatures, different tolerances depending on machines or production methods used, and the like, lenticular lenses can vary from lot to lot. Such variance can affect the quality of the end lenticular product and introduce complications in the production processes. Thus, it would be desirable to determine and implement a lenticular imaging method that results in interlaced images that correspond to lenticular lenses while minimizing the effects such varying lenticular lens have on such correspondence.
Color scanners break down images into a plurality continuous tone primary color separations (i.e., red, green and blue). These separations are converted to subtractive primaries (i.e., cyan, magenta, and yellow) plus black for printing. Alternatively, hi fi, hexachrome or other color gamut separations can be used, further converting the primaries into narrower color hues (e.g., cyan, magenta, yellow, green and orange) plus black. Regardless, the conversion represents the original picture.
Methods for producing multidimensional lithographic separations as well as multidimensional composite images are known in the art, as is illustrated by U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,488,451, 5,617,178, and 5,847,808, each of which is incorporated herein by reference. Multidimensional imaging on a curved surface has been taught in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/536,246, which is incorporated by reference herein.
Digital images are two dimensional, that is, they have a width and a height. It is standard practice in the graphic arts industry for digital images to have a single resolution. Graphical imaging equipment includes, for example, digital cameras (e.g., the Camedia E10 available from Olympus Inc., located in Tokyo, Japan, and the Optura, available from Canon Inc., located in Tokyo Japan), digital scanners (e.g., SNAPSCAN 1236, available from AGFA-Gevaert, N.V.) and imaging software (e.g., Adobe™ Photoshop™). Scanners such as the SNAPSCAN are used to achieve higher resolutions of digital images. Such scanners can scan, for example, at 1200 pixels per inch in a first direction and 600 pixels per inch in a second direction. The scanner typically scans at a high resolution in one machine direction and interpolates the lower resolution upward, since the lower resolution is typically a factor of the higher resolution. Thus, a single resolution (typically the higher resolution) is obtained through interpolation. The single resolution can be accommodated by the associated software, and the software uses the single resolution image file for both directions of the two dimensional digital image. Interlaced images, described in greater detail below, can be created from digital frames.
It is well known in the graphic imaging art that images can be created using a computer system and stored using one of a number of computer readable mediums. These mediums can include, for example, RAM, hard drive, CD ROM, DVD, tape, and optical means. A variety of file formats can be used, for example, TIFF, JPEG, Photoshop®, and EPS, among others.
Output devices, such as inkjet printers, typically take a single resolution image and then typically output the image, again, at a single resolution, One such output device is the Stylus Color 980N, available from Epson America, Inc. of Longbeach, Calif. In some cases, the device can output an image at two resolutions.
Creating an interlaced image having two distinct resolutions (“interlaced image resolutions” or “interlaced resolutions”), however, is missing in the prior art. As used in this application, “distinct resolutions”, means resolutions that are independent of each other. Moreover, creating interlaced images having non-integer (also referred to herein as “non-whole number” or “floating point”) resolution values is missing in the art.
In these instances, the device is typically set at its highest resolution output mode, such as 2880 dots per inch (“dpi”) by 720 dpi, or alternatively, 1440 dpi by 720 dpi. As such, the second resolution is merely a factor of the first resolution, Computer-to-Plate (CTP) technology is a plate-imaging process in which printing plates are imaged directly from digital files. As such, the need for photographic films is eliminated. Components of a typical CTP system include a raster image processor (RIP), a plate-storing location, a device(s) for removing slip sheets, a punching device(s), system(s) for loading and unloading plates, a plate setter, and a post-processing system.
It would be desirable to create corresponding lenticular images that can provide a desired special effect in a manner that can accommodate a variety of factors, for example, multiple frame resolutions that can characterize digital frames. Such corresponding lenticular images could preferably be created to have non-integer or floating point resolutions. Ideally, the corresponding lenticular images would minimize, if not eliminate, distortion (e.g., banding).
It would also be desirable to output an image for use in a lenticular image utilizing an output device capable of achieving a varied output resolution in at least one direction, as well as a distinct second resolution in a second direction. It would be desirable if such images could be output at non-integer or floating point resolutions in either or both directions. In sum, if the above could be achieved, lenticular images of improved clarity and detail could be created, lenticular images that could better convey a desired special effects of multidimensionality to the intended viewer.